The countdown has begun. I have 16 days before I go back to school. YIKES! My classroom is ready and I'm currently working on curriculum planning and a few other things that save learning time once school begins.
I'd like to share how I use math crayon tins to save learning time during math. My school district uses Saxon Math. If you are familiar with Saxon Math, then you know that the kids need one or more of the 8 basic colors of crayons to complete some parts of their math worksheets on a daily basis. Well, when kids need a red crayon, for example, there are always kids that can't find their red. Sometimes they need two or three different colors and they may have two of them and not the other. I don't like wasting class time having kids look through their desks for a particular color of a crayon. So, what's a teacher to do?
These are stored in a plastic basket labeled "Math Crayons."
The tins are passed out only during math time. The kids always have the 8 basic colors they need in their tin. There's no need to look in their desk. Occasionally someone will say, "My green crayon is missing!" Well, I planned for that too. I have two caddies that hold the 8 basic colors, so kids know where to go if one of their crayons turns up missing. When we are done with math, I always ask the kids to check their tins and make sure they have all 8 of their crayons.
Here are some materials I used to prepare the math tins.
Where do I get the Altoid tins? I have a friend's Dad that saves them for me? (Thanks Karen Uzzell!!!)
